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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Ndola Crash and the Death of Dag Hammarskjöld |
Author: | Rösiö, Bengt |
Year: | 1993 |
Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
Volume: | 31 |
Issue: | 4 |
Pages: | 661-671 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Congo (Democratic Republic of) Katanga |
Subjects: | separatism UN traffic accidents international relations Ethnic and Race Relations Politics and Government |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/161297 |
Abstract: | When Dag Hammarskjöld flew to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) on 17 September 1961 it was to meet Moïse Tshombe, the self-styled President of secessionist Katanga (Zaire), in order to bring about a ceasefire to the fighting that was going on between his soldiers and those of the United Nations, especially in Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi). After the Secretary-General's plane had crashed, the press jumped to the conclusion that it had been shot down. This article examines this myth, as well as other theories about the crash and explanations which have been given for the absence of an immediate search-and-rescue operation. The author argues that Controlled Flight Into Terrain (i.e. a judgement error on the part of the pilot as to altitude due to sensory/optical illusions) appears to be the most probable reason for the crash. Note, ref. |